Ben-Gvir’s crocodile project halted but abuses at Ketziot Prison continue

An Israeli occupation court has temporarily stopped the transfer of Nile crocodiles to Ketziot Prison in the Southern Negev, a facility used to hold Palestinian detainees from Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including freedom fighters.

Planned use of crocodiles at prison was to further humiliate and dehumanise Palestinians

The project, which was promoted by so-called national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, involved digging a moat around a high-security section of the prison, and filling it with crocodiles. It would have added a deliberately intimidating, humiliating and dehumanising spectacle to an already brutal detention environment for Palestinian prisoners, if given the go-ahead.

It was first documented in December 2025. “Israeli” Channel 13 reported that Ben-Gvir had proposed creating a “detention facility surrounded by crocodiles,” and the Israel Prison Service (IPS) was examining the proposal. B’Tselem Chair, Orly Noy, described the plan as:

another grotesque example of the cannibal stage in which Israel is at right now.

Millions of Shekels allocated for the project

On 22 July, Ynet reported that excavation work had started on trenches at Ketziot, intended to hold the crocodiles. The government allocated 21 million shekels — more than £5 million — for this pilot project.

But the project faced objections from the Nature and Parks Authority, which said it could not continue under existing regulations. Nile crocodiles are protected wild animals, and can only be kept for approved purposes, such as education or research. So environmental protection minister, Idit Silman, reclassified the animal as a “cultivated wild animal.” This reclassification created a route for state bodies, in this case the IPS, to keep crocodiles at the prison. But animal-welfare and holding conditions had to be met.

Let the Animals Live, an Israeli animal-rights organisation, then filed a petition against the plan. The group argued that Silman had ignored the advice of legal officials and the Nature and Parks Authority. And it also said the authorities had not properly examined the possible harm to the animals.

On 2 August, a temporary order was issued, preventing the government from carrying out the crocodile transfer to Ketziot. It also barred authorities from locating or preparing crocodiles for the transfer. The state was ordered to respond to the petition before the court decides whether the restrictions should continue.

Ban may only be temporary

The order is expected to remain in effect until the response, expected by 16 August.

Ben-Gvir claimed the court was taking the side of “terrorists.” He said:

Once again, in a time of war, the legal system sides with the terrorists, thwarting important steps for Israeli deterrence….We know that the terrorists are worried about the arrival of the crocodiles, but today the court came to their aid.

Unsurprisingly, the court did not rule the entire project unlawful. The treatment of the Palestinian prisoners held inside Ketziot Prison is irrelevant to its decision. It is only concerned with the government’s authority to proceed and the welfare of the crocodiles.

Ketziot, also known as Naqab Prison, or Ansar 3, is used to hold Palestinian “security” detainees. It has become a central site in allegations concerning the Israeli occupation’s treatment of Palestinians.

A multitude of reports detail these injustices, especially since the beginning of “Israel’s” genocide in Gaza. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Ketziot prisoners have been beaten and sexually assaulted. Windows have intentionally been removed, and prisoners forced to sleep on bare iron beds without mattresses.

A July 2024 UN Human Rights Office report is titled Detention in the context of the escalation of hostilities in Gaza. It details how Keter riot-control guards at Ketziot repeatedly beat detainees during daily head counts. It also describes a Palestinian detainee being beaten in front of his son and being given pure alcohol instead of water for medication.

Ketziot Prison — site of a multitude of human rights abuses

B’Tselem published a report, in August 2024, titled Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps. It is based on testimonies from 55 Palestinians detainees, in prisons including Ketziot. Violence, sexual abuse and humiliation, deliberate starvation, denial of water and medical care, sleep deprivation and unhygienic conditions were all documented.

“Israel’s” Public Defense Office have also described conditions faced by Palestinian prisoners at Ketziot Prison as “unfit for human beings.” They visited three times, reporting detainees’ accounts of severe and systematic violence by guards. Detainees said they were beaten whenever they left prison wings to attend medical appointments, meet lawyers or participate in legal proceedings. Prisoners showed inspectors red welts, swelling and scabs on their wrists. The reports said violence was also used during cell searches and while prisoners were lying face down.

The detainees described being forced into painful and humiliating stress positions during roll calls and while being taken to clinics, lawyers’ meetings and legal hearings. Some said restraints were tightened so severely they caused wounds and forced them to walk unnaturally to reduce the pain.

Prisoners also suffered from severe hunger, weakness, dizziness and fainting linked to inadequate nutrition. Denial of drinking water, extreme overcrowding, poor sanitation and scabies outbreaks were also the norm.

Plans for crocodiles but still no plans to investigate severe abuse against Palestinian prisoners in Ketziot prison

In a BBC report, one former detainee said he witnessed sexual assault at Ketziot. And he described being beaten with batons, suffering injuries that left him unable to move normally for almost two months. Others said electric shocks, threats involving dogs and denial of medical treatment were also used.

Although the IPS have denied allegations of systematic abuse at Ketziot Prison, the accounts of human rights violations in the prison are consistent, and require an independent investigation.

The Israeli occupation’s government was prepared to change wildlife regulations to make this project possible. It excavated parts of the proposed moat and promoted the idea as a deterrent. But, at the same time, official inspectors were recording complaints of starvation, beatings, painful restraints, disease and the denial of basic hygiene at the same prison.

“Israel” has presented Palestinian prisoners as people who must be controlled through fear, while failing to answer allegations that its own prison system has subjected them to conditions unfit for human beings.

The injunction does not resolve what is happening inside Ketziot, it only pauses one grotesque proposal. The wider system that placed Palestinian detainees in the prison, very often without charge or trial, remains intact.

Until those responsible are investigated, and Palestinian detainees are granted the protections required by law, Ketziot will remain another monument to the Israeli occupation’s system of crimes and impunity.

Featured image via Twitter

By Charlie Jaay

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